Tutorial (these pictures of the floating window are somewhat different than the one displayed in the actual app now):
Below you see main Fontastic! window - it displays the sample text your have provided in the top field next to each font it finds. In the picture, the user is Relisting the fonts, applying the new sample text to every font and then displaying the new result.
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By default, all of the fonts and their samples are shown to you without any special formatting, and the size is 12pt. You can use the "Controls" window's list box to select one or more fonts and apply a new size for the samples or a different formatting. However, initially you will find that the controls in the floating window are disabled, this is because no fonts are selected yet:
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Once font(s) are selected in the list box, the controls become enabled and you may use them. In the below example, the user is setting the size of 5 of his font samples to 24pt. The result is displayed in the Fontastic! Sample Viewer window.
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If only one font is selected in the list box, it's formatting style will be displayed by the size popup menu and style buttons... but when more than one are selected, these controls are probably not representing the correct styles of every selected sample, unless they are all identical. You can always use the controls to manipulate the styles of the samples for all selected fonts. Holding option and clicking a formatting button will toggle the formatting of the selected font samples. Use the Edit menu to change the size of the font names which appear next to their samples.
For example, Apple Chancery is bold, Arial is not. If you select Arial and then hold shift and select Apple Chancery, and then push the Bold button, they will both become bold. If on the other hand, you hold the Option key down and click the bold button, Apple Chancery will no longer be bold, and Arial will become bold. Below is what the controls may look like if more than one font is selected in the list box, and they are not styled identically (notice the helpful blue reminder that these fonts have different sizes).
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You can print out all of the font samples by hitting cmd-P. To print out only font samples for the selected fonts (in the list box), click the blue printer icon in the floating window, or hit cmd-shift-P:
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Fontastic! has two modes of operation. The default mode (which is "Enable Delete Function" in the Mode menu) will probably only show a fraction of your installed fonts in your fonts folder... the fonts displayed in this mode have file names which match the names that their resources contain. For example, you download a font called "Cartoony 4" and you change the name to "Good font - use this one", Fontastic! will not show this font in the list. The fonts could not be removed if this limited view were not in place.
If you want to see all of your fonts, you can go to the Mode menu and choose "View All Fonts", but doing so will disable the Delete Font function. One simple step you can take to get more of your fonts to display in the "Enable Delete Function" mode, is to go to the File->Fix Font Names menu. This will open up a window with two lists:
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The one at the left lists the fonts without identically named suitcases. The one at the right lists the suitcases without identically named fonts. None of the fonts on the left will show up in the "Enable Delete Function" mode. If the suitcase is named something obviously similar to a font in the list at the left, say the difference between "Arial Bld Nr" and "Arial Bold Narrow" then you can simply select both of those and hit the Match button. If it is not so simple to tell which font belongs to which suitcase, double click the suitcase in the list at the right. The Finder should come to the front and display all of the fonts in that suitcase.
If the suitcase contains more than one font, chances are you shouldn't try to match it with anything. If it consists of a font or fonts which do not even appear in the list at the left, then the suitcase is damaged and you might as well throw it out now. If, on the other hand, it contains one font, which you are able to find in the list at the left, you should select that font in the left list and then hit Match.
After hitting Match, the two items will disappear from their lists and you will be able to see that font in the "Enable Delete Function" mode from now on.
In the example below, "View All Fonts" is grayed out, and has a dot next to it's name. This signifies that it is the current mode:
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If you are in the mode which allows deleting, and you wish to delete a font or multiple fonts, just select the ones you want in the Controls window and hit the button with the red "X" icon. This brings up a confirmation dialog asking you if you really want do delete the fonts you selected:
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You may notice sometimes that after resizing the Sample Viewer window to enlarge the sample box area, there is a good deal of empty, white space at the very bottom of this field. This only happens when the scrollbar is at the bottom before resizing the window. If this happens, a menu item should magically appear in the Edit menu called "Remove empty space". The reason this method is not invoked automatically, is because it moves the scroll bar around a bit and can be confusing when it occurs after a resize for no apparent reason. Here the user is noticing the unsightly blank space and reaching for the "Edit->Remove empty space" menu:
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Fontastic! is configurable, and so has a preferences window which can be found by selecting the "Edit->Preferences" menu:
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The "Path to fonts folder" button allows you to choose a new folder to look in, the default used by Fontastic! is the "Fonts" folder which is inside your System folder. Some people, like users of ATM, store their fonts in other folders. So this feature is to be used by ATM-ers and the like who wish to have the Delete function enabled (if View All Fonts mode is selected, the folder does not matter). BUT REMEMBER: This feature does NOT allow you to view fonts that aren't currently installed!
The "Font names color" button allows you to select a new color to highlight the font names inside the Sample Viewer window. The names are supposed to be a different color than the samples in order to show that they are the actual names, and not part of the sample text... it's easier on the eyes.
The "Automatically relist samples after..." section of the Preferences allows you to set whether or not to update the Font Sample box after:
If you need to copy or drag multiple non-contiguous font samples from Fontastic!, simply use the Controls window's list box - select the fonts you want and then hit cmd-c or just drag them.
You say "I can't remember all this!"? Well lucky for you, there is a good amount of balloon help in this program. Just turn it on when you need help, and move your mouse over the area in question (for example, a button with a function unknown to you):
